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We’re coming to the end of our “First Pres Goes to the Movies” series. This week’s movie is Galaxy Quest, a movie that really didn’t get the attention it deserved when it came out in 1999. The basic premise is that the cast of the TV show Galaxy Quest, which is basically Star Trek[CK1] , are making their living doing conventions and paid appearances nearly 20 years after the show was cancelled. They’re sucked into an interstellar adventure and forced to save some aliens from a space bad guy. Of course they’re just actors, and they really don’t feel equipped for the job. As the movie goes on, they are forced by circumstance to become more like the characters they portrayed on the Galaxy Quest TV show, and they ultimately grow into the roles required of them. Spoiler alert: they ultimately save the galaxy.
His dream as recorded in chapter 6 is extraordinary in many ways. In the year [CK2] that king Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the true King of Israel seated on a throne, high and exalted. Isaiah is presented with a glimpse into the heavenly court, something we rarely see in Scripture, though all he sees of the King is the enormity of the King’s robes as smoke conceals the rest.
The King is attended to by seraphs[CK3] , who Christian tradition have turned into higher order angels. Unsurprisingly, the mythology that has sprung up over the millennia surrounding angels and the heavenly host don’t necessarily line up with what Scripture tells us about them; generally speaking angels seems pretty terrifying. Isaiah and Revelation tell us that seraphs are the King’s attendants, sitting at the throne of the King and giving praise and glory for ever and ever. These seraphs are not the beautiful angels in renaissance paintings, but by all accounts are terrifying and strange creatures. From what we can glean from the Hebrew, they might be flying, fiery snakes, Isaiah’s understanding of which might be rooted in Egyptian iconography. John’s Revelation indicates they’re covered in eyes. So flying fiery snakes covered in eyes.
Isaiah[CK4] is so overcome at the sight of the King and the seraphs that he falls to his knees and declares that he is not worthy. He laments that he is a man of unclean lips who lives among a people of unclean lips, and yet his eyes have seen the King. He is unworthy, nand yet he has been given a glimpse of that which we are all unworthy.
Tim Allen’s character in Galaxy Quest, James Nesmith, feels like a fraud. Well, he is a fraud. He is, after all, an actor paid to play a role. With the show over, he’s paid to appear at conventions and other public appearances as Captain Taggert—they really only want James Nesmith there insofar as it gets them the Captain. Nesmith is an egomaniac to be sure, but deep down he’s insecure because he’s not Taggert. He thinks he’s not good enough.
I had an interesting conversation this week, itself not an uncommon experience when people meet pastors out in the wild. A man shared with me that, as a younger man, he had considered becoming a minister; he even went to a Presbyterian college for the purpose of preparing for ministry. In the end, he said, he decided not to go into the ministry because he didn’t feel worthy[CK5] . I didn’t press him on that because I didn’t really have much time, but I really wish I would have. I’d be interested to know whether he didn’t feel morally worthy, spiritually worthy, or some other kind of worthy.
I didn’t tell him this, but I’ll share a secret with you: many pastors I know don’t feel worthy. I can’t speak for Ben, but I know that many ministers (myself included) at some point in their career feel like impostors. Pastors who feel like impostors are afraid, deep down, that their spiritual practices aren’t up to snuff, that their faith isn’t strong enough, that their biblical knowledge isn’t where it should be, or that they really don’t know what they’re doing and eventually people will figure it out. Sometimes, they just feel overwhelmed by the enormity and responsibility of the calling. Ultimately, they feel that they simply aren’t enough.
The King removes the barrier, the objection, the excuse. One of the seraphs brings a hot coal to his lips and purifies him. His guilt is taken away; his sin is atoned for. After he is purified, Isaiah volunteers to be sent out to God’s people. His excuses are washed away and he is empowered to go out and proclaim God’s message.
Isaiah and the Galaxy Quest cast both feel overwhelmed by what’s before them. They feel like they’re unprepared, not worthy, frauds. In the case of the cast from Galaxy Quest, they had what they needed to save the galaxy, skills they internalized from their four years on the show, as well as innate characteristics. Isaiah already had the chops to be God’s prophet: by the time we reach the 6th chapter, Isaiah had been delivering powerful and challenging prophecy to the people of Judah.
Isaiah and the Galaxy Quest cast are refined by fire[CK6] . Isaiah is purified by the coal touching his lips, removing from him the stain of sin that makes him quake in fear before the throne of God and serves as a barrier to living fully into God’s call. The Galaxy Quest cast are refined through the challenges and circumstances of having to save the galaxy, and they come through in the end real heroes. Though Isaiah and the Galaxy Quest cast are afraid that they are not enough, they soon come to understand that they are.
There may be some of you who feel as if you’re not adequate, like you’re not enough, like you’re an impostor waiting to be found out. You may feel like actors called into space to save the galaxy; you may feel like a prophet thrust before the throne of God, sent out to proclaim a message of woe and destruction. You may be struggling through your professional life, your family life, or just through life in general. If God has called you to it, you are capable and you are enough. There may be some here who feel like you’re not worthy of love, whether that’s God’s love, your partner’s love, or the love of the person sitting in the pew behind you. That is a lie; you are worthy of every ounce of love.
God has called us. God us called you to worship this morning. God has called us to this congregation. God has called us to the circumstances in your life: our vocations, our family lives, our faith lives. God has called us to these things because God knows we are capable. You are enough.
Following God’s call is not easy. Sometimes it leads you through fire and flame[CK7] . The challenges that come with following God’s call are there because we live in a broken world that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, and the work we’re called to is often part of God’s larger purpose of putting it back together. These challenges may at times seem like a needlessly convoluted sci-fi plot, but when we come through them we’re ultimately better for it. Sure, we may need therapy after, but that’s part of the process, too. I want to be clear that God is not responsible for these fires, but God turns all things towards good for those who love God.
You are enoug[CK8] h because you are a beloved child of God, made in God’s image. We’re told in Genesis that God formed the first human out of the dust of the Earth. When the body was formed, God breathed into the body, giving it life and turning it into a human. The human, ha adam (the man), was made in the image of God. You are made in the image of God. Before the foundations of the world, God adopted you as one of God’s own. You are enough.
Martin Luther famously wondered if he was enough: if he was good enough, if he believed hard enough. He finally has an epiphany: he is enough because Christ is enough. We are not redeemed because we are so good, so smart, or so faithful. We are redeemed because Christ is so good, so wise, and so faithful. You are enough because Christ is enough.
God has given each of us many gifts. When we talk about God’s gifts, we’re not talking about financial gifts; wealth is not a sign of God’s favor, but that’s a sermon for another time. We each have unique gifts that God has imparted on each of us; we can each do something that others cannot. The trick is finding others whose gifts compliment yours while discerning where those gifts can do the most good. You have been equipped by God fulfill the purpose God has set before you, and there may even be opportunities to grow and strengthen the gifts you already have. You are enough.
I’m not saying that it will be easy; life throws curve balls at us on the regular. I’m not saying that you can do it without trying; very few of us are so gifted that everything comes easily to us. I’m not saying that self-improvement is not a worthy goal; there’s always room for improvement. I am saying, however, that at your base, at your core, you are enough. You are enough for whatever it is called has called you to, and you are enough to be a beloved child of God.
[CK1]Fight Scene
[CK2]throne
[CK3]seraphim slide
[CK4]throne
[CK5]Am I worthy
[CK6]refined
[CK7]in the furnace
[CK8]called